System coverage is an important aspect of a wireless communication system. Holes in coverage can cause dropped calls and missed messages, which can anger subscribers and cause them to move their business to another service provider. For this reason, many service providers put considerable effort and money into evaluating the coverage performance of their systems to identify and correct areas of bad coverage.
Prior-art diagnostic systems for wireless communication systems have operated to report a communication difficulty either immediately after its occurrence, or as soon as contact is reestablished with a base station. Such "real-time" reporting causes additional traffic in the communication system, with no control of the timing of the additional traffic. Because many communication difficulties, e.g., high interference and congestion, occur during high-traffic conditions, real-time diagnostic reports can exacerbate the problem.
Thus, what is needed is a method and apparatus in a two-way wireless communication system for detection and deferred reporting of a communication difficulty and a location at which the communication difficulty occurred. Preferably, the method and apparatus will be automated, comprehensive, cost effective, and will allow diagnostic reports to be transmitted at off-peak times.